Despite the fact that SchoolNet@1509 has laid a good foundation for Internet infrastructure in Thailand, the battle to bring schools online is far from over. One of the major obstacles that we face is the lack of adequate computer and communication equipment in schools. In this respect, the Resource Center project of the MOE fits nicely into the picture. It complements SchoolNet@1509 by aiming at providing computer and communication systems for 420 schools nationwide.

In addition, the project will select 76 most promising schools (one school per province) out of the 420 to become ‘school nodes’ of SchoolNet@1509. These school nodes will be linked to SchoolNet@1509 via high-speed, permanent connections (leased circuits in contrast with the dial-up modem access that most schools normally get). However, with this privilege comes greater responsibilities: these selected schools will have to become local training centers and provide support to other schools in their respective provinces.

Unlike SchoolNet@1509, the MOE’s Resource Center project has not yet been implemented. Government funding of this project still has to be secured and a few details need to be worked out between the MOE and NECTEC to ensure smooth cooperation. Barring any unexpected circumstances, the infrastructure for both inside schools (through the Resource Center) and outside schools (through SchoolNet@1509) will be greatly enhanced by these projects. However, the Resource Center project only deals with the “hardware” side of the problem. When the infrastructure is ready for schools to connect to the Internet, two questions will immediately be asked: “Why do we need Internet in schools?” and “How do we use this computer to connect to the Internet?”. This raises two important issues concerning Internet content and human-resource development.

The Internet is like a double-edged sword. While its potential to elevate the educational standard is huge, it is also a good medium for transferring dangerous or inappropriate materials to children. Students must be guided in such a way that they spend time wisely on the Net, enriching their knowledge instead of idling away the time by playing games or engaging in meaningless online chat with their peers.

After spending the first few years developing the network infrastructure, we have gradually come to realize the importance of content – especially Thai-language content on the Internet. The first serious attempt to tackle this problem was undertaken in the Kanchanapisek project where we worked with eleven organizations which had served the country through many successful projects initiated by His Majesty the King. Thousands of Thai-language web pages were created that document the vast amount of information concerning the royally initiated projects: such as rural development, agriculture, irrigation and a junior encyclopaedia.

In a similar manner, SchoolNet@1509 needs good local content to attract teachers and students online. If  left alone in the Cyberspace dominated by English content, the language barrier will discourage most teachers and students from using the Internet. Therefore, it is essential that we have Thai-language content with good educational value that is designed to help the children do better in school.

The SchoolNet Content Development project was therefore started in September 1998. We commissioned Kasetsart University to carry out the project in conjunction with the Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology (IPST) and some selected schools. The objective is to create educational web sites in the Thai language for secondary-school students featuring 7 major academic subjects, namely: Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Engineering and Environment. These web sites are scheduled to be launched by December 5, 1999 to celebrate the 72nd birthday of His Majesty the King. Moreover, we hope that this effort will demonstrate and induce other schools to create their own educational web sites and thus contribute to the overall content for school children in Thailand.

Apart from content creation, we feel that it is also important to have activities organized such that teachers and students learn how to get the most from the vast educational potential of the Internet. Held once a year since 1996, Seagate Technology (Thailand) has joined us in organizing the Internet Training Camp for secondary school children. Students who sign up are trained in web development; they then compete against each other by building their own web pages centering on each year’s theme (for example, environment protection, the solar system, etc.).

The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program managed by NOAA is another activity that offers a good opportunity for teachers and students in SchoolNet@1509 to collaborate with their counterparts around the world. Through the program, schools can encourage students to study and understand the global environment. GLOBE students make environmental observations at or near their schools and report their data through the Internet.

In 1996, during the early phase of SchoolNet, we provided introductory training courses for the Internet for participating schools at our own facilities in Bangkok. However, as the project advanced, the number of member schools increased rapidly all over the country. It soon became obvious to us that the early model of centralized training was no longer practical.

When SchoolNet@1509 made its debut in February 1998, we knew that we needed some kind of distributed training model. Rajabhat Institutes soon emerged as our ideal partner.

At present, eight of their 36 campuses nationwide were able to offer Internet training courses., These 8 campuses were in different provinces and could serve as regional training centers for schools in those areas. Through the regional training centers, schools save tremendously on travel expenses to join training. We were also able to train more schools with the help of these Rajabhat Institutes. Last October, 274 schools and 419 users were trained this way.

It is often said that the computer is too complicated to use. This is particularly true for most teachers. Occasional training does help teachers become more familiar with the use of the computer and the Internet but the best way is to make things simpler for them.

We developed the Linux School Internet Server (Linux-SIS) to simplify the task of installing and managing an Internet servers in schools. As the Linux operating system is available free of charge, Linux-SIS serves as a low cost alternative to other UNIX or Windows NT systems.

Linux-SIS is a software package based on Slackware Linux and other add-on software to ease installation and system management. The programs that we developed and bundled with Linux-SIS simplify the installation process by presetting initial parameters for users.

To customize the system, users just answer some simple questions and Linux-SIS will set it up accordingly. The tasks of the system administrator are also simplified by web-based tools that manage the server, thus reducing the need for any technical background.

Schools that need Internet servers are finding Linux-SIS a great help to them. Linux-SIS can be used as an Internet gateway which lets other PCs in the school’s local area network share an Internet connection. It can also be used as an Intranet server for schools. We have been developing Linux-SIS since August 1996. It is now in its third version and is distributed with a book written by the SchoolNet team at NECTEC.

Normally after the Internet training courses, quite a number of teachers often encounter technical problems when they go back to their schools and really start getting online. These problems for new users are more difficult when the only place that they can get help is NECTEC. A phone call to NECTEC’s helpdesk can cost 18 baht per minute for some areas in the country. This is certainly not affordable for most schools.

One possible solution is to develop local community involvement. Since all of us should take responsibility for the education of our children, why not sacrifice some of our time to help our schools get online? We believe that this spirit is what drives NetDay activities in the United States and the rest of the world. So we proposed a volunteer program for SchoolNet@1509. When the SchoolNet Vounteer Program was made public in early 1999, many people signed up and we selected 60 of the most qualified people from 23 provinces.

We learned that any improvement in the quality of our education must be achieved through the balance of three factors, or 3Ts, namely: Technology, Teaching materials (content) and Teachers (their qualifications).  As described in this article, we have put our development efforts into all of them. However, being an organization focused on technology, our achievements in the Technology factor are far exceeding those in the other two factors. Additional efforts are needed to convince related government agencies to act and improve Thai-language content as well as teachers’ training.

The telecommunication infrastructure is like the transportation infrastructure. Building a good road to a rural community without preparing it for the onslaught of urban culture and consumerism will only destroy the livelihood of its people. It is thus important that we strengthen the rural communities before exposing them to the economic risks of the new road. By the same argument, Internet can be dangerous for an unprepared community. This is why we do regulate SchoolNet@1509 availability to only “known communities”. It will never be “unlimited” usage to an “unlimited” number of schools.

It might be too early to judge whether SchoolNet@1509 will succeed in the long run. However, it is undeniable that this project has already made a significant impact on many schools in Thailand.

NECTEC should be viewed as just an incubator of the early efforts to introduce the Internet in Thai schools. It is clear that no single organization in the country can accomplish this task alone. Thailand urgently needs a joint effort by different government ministries if it really wants to see that every student has a chance to get online.